Granderson Injury Why Yankees Signed Winn

Many Yankee fans were surprised when the Yankees signed Randy Winn to be their backup outfielder. Brian Cashman had made it known that he was looking for a right-handed bat to play versus lefties and this made Reed Johnson seem like the logical choice. Winn was coming off a season where he was terrible against lefties. However, the Yankees went with Winn as the primary backup and later signed Marcus Thames to be their lefty-killer.

When Cashman was questioned about signing Winn over a player like Johnson, Cashman pointed to Winn’s durability as well as his ability to offer more than just good numbers against lefties. Cashman wanted a guy who could really sub in if needed on an everyday basis.

Now that Curtis Granderson is out 4-6 weeks with a strained groin, it would seem Cashman was right to try and sign an outfielder capable of being an everyday player for a few weeks. As such, I would be surprised if the Yankees make any sort of move to replace Granderson. Sure, Winn has not looked great so far (though he did have that game-winning homerun on Monday night). He really hasn’t gotten enough ABs to find any sort of a groove, however. To give him enough ABs to have an honest chance would be long enough for Granderson to come off the DL.

So while it may not quite be the offense we all imagined, be prepared to see a lot of Randy Winn for the next few weeks, especially against righties.